John Alembillah Azumah - The Legacy of Arab-Islam In Africa: A Quest for Inter-religious Dialogue

THE LEGACY OF ARAB-ISLAM IN AFRICA

A Oneworld book

This ebook edition published by Oneworld Publications, 2014

First published by Oneworld Publications, 2001

John A. Azumah

All rights reserved.
Copyright under Berne Convention.
A CIP record for this title is available
from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-85168-273-7
ISBN 978-1-78074-685-2 (ebook)

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This Work is Dedicated to the memory of the tens of Millions of Africans who, in the name of God, were made to sacrifice their Lives, Freedom, Dignity, Heritage and History for no other reason than the content of their beliefs and colour of their skin; and to those of the present generation who are committed to an honest inter-faith dialogue and the promotion of peaceful and equal co-existence in the pluralistic African context.

I want, first, to thank God Almighty for granting me the grace, strength and good health of body, mind and spirit to undertake this research. Second, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the following officers of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana: The Revd E.S. Mate-Kodjo (now retired Synod Clerk) and Revd Dr D.N.A. Kpobi, Inter-Church and Ecumenical Relations Secretary respectively for their individual interests and encouragement which made the study possible.

My profound gratitude also goes to the kumenisches Studienwerk in Bochum, Germany, for the generous scholarship offered me and my family for the duration of my Masters and Ph.D. programmes at the University of Birmingham between the periods of September 1993 and July 1998. There is no gainsaying that without their financial support this study would have been impossible. The disciplined and well-organized administration of the staff ensured that we received our monthly grant regularly and consistently. To all the staff, I say THANK YOU and GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

The Revd Dr David Thomas of the Centre for the Study of Islam and ChristianMuslim Relations, Selly Oak, Birmingham, who supervised this work as a doctoral thesis deserves thanks that words seem inadequate to convey. Dr Thomas was more of a senior brother than an academic supervisor to me during the course of the study. There is no doubt that his astute academic mind and the critical eye he cast over the work coupled with his uplifting compliments all helped in guiding, shaping and spurring me to this point. All I can say is THANK YOU, DAVID!

The warm fatherly guidance of Dr Sigvard von Sicard and Prof. Jorgen Nielsen (both of the Centre for the Study of Islam and ChristianMuslim Relations) has been of immense help to me during the course of my study. They both also took the time to read through the work and made valuable comments; those of Dr Sicard in relation to the East African situation have been especially helpful. In the same category is the Revd Dr David Marshall. David is a very good personal friend who made time to proofread the work in its doctoral thesis form making numerous useful and helpful grammatical corrections. God Bless you, David!

I cannot end this acknowledgement without mention of Prof. Humphrey Fisher of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Prof. Fisher read through some sections of the work as a doctoral thesis but more so as it was being revised for publication. In both cases, Fishers critical comments and queries (most of which I accepted and some of which I resisted) have helped me a lot in reshaping the work to its present state. Dr Robert Shick, a colleague of mine at the Henry Martyn Institute, India, also read through the first four chapters of the book and made useful grammatical corrections. I also wish to express my sincere thanks to Mary Starkey, the copy editor, for her professionalism in carrying out her task on the manuscript, and to all the staff of Oneworld Publications. To all of you I say THANK YOU! Of course, I take full responsibility for the ideas expressed in this book and none of the above-mentioned persons should in any way be blamed for any shortcomings in this work.

Last but by no means least, My wife, Grace Asidbe, and children, Benjamin Asuguru, Nathaniel Apenada and Malemma Elizabeth also played a unique part in the successful completion of this work both as a doctoral thesis and in its present form as a book. Not least for the warmth and comfort they, and only they, could provide especially in times when the boredom and frustration of the research reared its ugly head. I want to thank you in our local language, Mposia pamm! The same goes to friends and relatives in Ghana, the UK (especially Dr Ida Glaser and Colin Chapman) and now India, many others too numerous to mention by name. Thanks and God Bless you all.

Since the second half of the twentieth century, inter-religious dialogue between people of different faith traditions, especially between Christians and Muslims, has gained much currency. Without denying the fact that dialogue still means different things to different people, inter-religious dialogue in general and ChristianMuslim dialogue in particular is seen as a move away from the mutual polemics, stereotyping and prejudices that have plagued and often been a source of numerous conflicts in past and present encounters between the two faith communities. The primary aim of dialogue therefore is to gain a better understanding of the Other and so do away with prejudices and stereotyping with the view of enhancing better relations and peaceful co-existence in a religiously pluralistic world.

Countless international, regional, national and local meetings, seminars, conferences, colloquia, etc., between people of different religious traditions and Christians and Muslims in particular with the view of promoting inter-religious dialogue have now become the order of our times. I have had the privilege of attending quite a few of these inter-religious conferences and gained a lot from them. One fact that is very apparent in all such inter-religious, especially ChristianMuslim, gatherings and discussions is that contemporary inter-religious relations are heavily coloured and most often revolve on the axis of various historical events. To use the words of a participant at one such ChristianMuslim consultation, history is very much the mistress of our lives. We must take history very seriously if we are to look to the future.

My own limited experience at ChristianMuslim dialogue consultations and conferences has led me to believe that history is more the mistress of contemporary ChristianMuslim relations than the Holy Scriptures of the respective communities, which are themselves heavily influenced and shaped by their own historical contexts. The call to take history seriously is therefore crucial if we are to understand, appreciate and better deal with contemporary inter-religious difficulties, tensions and conflicts. Taking history seriously will also help us learn the necessary lessons from the historical encounters in charting a path for better relations in the future. This means that the documentation and interpretation of what actually happened in the past is more than just an academic exercise. In a sense it is a sacred duty!